Dao Equaling the Heavens
Chapter 229 - 163: The Female Daoist Comes to Join, Eighth-Transition Golden Core

Chapter 229: Chapter 163: The Female Daoist Comes to Join, Eighth-Transition Golden Core

In the Eighth Grotto Heaven, due to the broken array, the Taoist sanctuary had completely turned into ruins and rubble.

Cultivators were eager to learn how to slow the ravages of time, and there were various divine skills and spells for everything from people to objects. It was said that among the Thirty-Six Immortal Skills was the Evergreen Skill, which could greatly extend one’s lifespan.

The possessor of this Immortal Skill, who Gu Wen knew, was the Divine Tree that had been sending him "friendship fees." Its full name was the Ancestor Spirit Tree.

Gu Wen was quite curious about the array preservation technique and inquired about it but did not receive the corresponding Cultivation Technique. Yu Hua, on the other hand, gave Gu Wen a "Jade Pure Array for Beginners" type of introductory Cultivation Technique.

It took five years of Heavenly Marrow to get started with the array. Afterward, Gu Wen revisited the Grotto Heaven and could sense some subtle differences, but due to his low level of mastery in array, he couldn’t see clearly.

It was like only being able to distinguish the live wires from the neutral wires, without recognizing the various switches.

After ten years of Heavenly Marrow refining the "Jade Pure Array for Beginners," Gu Wen could make out some clues, but he still couldn’t understand the Heavenly Altar, where all the array patterns converged.

Spending ten years of Heavenly Marrow to eliminate the blind spots in his knowledge was not a loss.

[Heavenly Marrow for one hundred and seventy years]

Boom!

The Grotto Heaven shook slightly, the battle above the Heavenly Altar ended, and Chi Yu Zi came down once more.

Different from before, this time she wasn’t covered in injuries, only her breath was somewhat weak, everything was getting better.

Chi Yu Zi swallowed the Earth Core Crystal, spat out the shell, and her breath suddenly escalated a notch, becoming Seventh-Level Dao Foundation Perfection.

At least Fourteenth-Level combat prowess; facing the Vine Demon again shouldn’t be too hard, she might even be able to suppress it. The other party was an Immortal’s avatar, but Chi Yu Zi’s undying Taoist Body was also a thing of immortality, one was an avatar, and the other was the true body; the latter was certainly stronger.

It was unknown what level the Dragon Saint Heir was at.

"There are two more days until the Earth Core Crystal is nurtured. Red Dust, have you thought of a strategy?"

Gu Wen took the shell handed over by Chi Yu Zi, wiped it with his clothes, and then swallowed it.

The continuous battles had made them disregard some customs. When life and death were constantly hanging over their heads, all the complicated ceremonies seemed superfluous.

The former just wiped off the Spiritual Object that might have been covered in saliva, while the latter always emphasized her femininity, yet she still sat casually on the ground. Sometimes, when the battle ended and the Golden Light Spell was lifted, leaving their clothes in tatters, the first reaction wasn’t to mend them but to heal wounds.

If Gu Wen hadn’t been discreet, he probably would have seen it all by now.

With enough to eat, one thinks of lust; with nothing to eat, one thinks of theft.

Their group couldn’t even ensure basic safety; it was like being stranded in the midst of a battlefield, where on one side they needed to face the bombardment of great powers from beyond the skies, and on the other, they had to deal with enemies swarming in.

Gu Wen’s greatest desire now was to have a killing intent, to kill more people, to obtain more Spiritual Objects, and to gain stronger strength.

"The Earth Core Crystal has been swallowed once before, what would happen if it gets swallowed again?"

"I would have labored in vain, and the person who swallows the Earth Core Crystal might become my sister’s puppet."

"Then let’s kill our way over."

Gu Wen’s words were concise and to the point; often, there was only one solution to a problem, albeit via different processes.

Currently, they had no choice; the Devil Clan simply came to kill them, and Chi Yu Zi must obtain the Earth Core Crystal; the best outcome was that all factions did not intervene due to the irreconcilable differences between humans and devils.

"As long as we enter the Grotto Heaven, we can rely on the array to rest. And after you recover another soul fragment, how far can your strength go?"

Chi Yu Zi answered, "Eighth-Level Dao Foundation."

Seven plus eight of Dao Foundation, Fifteenth Level Heaven; if combat strength could surpass two levels, it would be Seventeenth, or even by relying on defense, clash head-on with Eighteen Level Heaven, and by using Xuanpin Tongshen, maybe reach the pinnacle of the Immortal Land.

But is that truly the pinnacle?

He was invincible in his own realm, and his strength could no longer be measured by most people’s standards, so he extends it upwards. Others can do the same; the closer to the top, the harder it is to surpass levels.

That’s because everyone is immeasurable by common standards.

Just like Chi Yu Zi couldn’t surpass her sister’s three souls and seven spirits, missing by one level from the Vine Demon and getting suppressed.

Simply judging superiority based on realm is an armchair strategy. The Qing python was stronger than Gu Wen in every aspect, but he died cleanly because he was the only one using a sword.

However, those so-called Devil Clan Saint Heirs are not in this category, at least after this improvement, ordinary prodigies can no longer contend with Chi Yu Zi.

If all else fails, they could just adopt the old tactic of Lv Bu riding Dian Wei; he invincible in offense, she invincible in defense.

The Golden Core trembled slightly, Gu Wen’s breath began to slowly rise, and the other three people cast their gazes one after another.

Ao Tang and Chi Yu Zi were somewhat numb, having developed tolerance to Gu Wen’s rapid breakthroughs; otherwise, Yu Hua would have had to enlighten them again.

"You break through first."

Chi Yu Zi retreated far from Gu Wen so as not to disturb him.

Gu Wen nodded, closed his eyes, and entered meditation, as the eighth halo in his Qi Sea began to converge.

[Eighth-Transition Golden Core, Returning to the Root, Fuming Pass, Core Guards the Divine Dwelling, Saint Ascent Approaches]

Flashes of insight emerged, the effect of the Eighth-Transition Golden Core lied in the strengthening of the Golden Light, transforming from a thin layer of protection into the ability to locally condense a golden light bodyguard, with a defense equivalent to the Golden Light Spell.

About the size of a palm.

Just from how Chi Yu Zi used it, it was evident that the defense of the Golden Light Spell was equivalent to a Dao Artifact, common Daoist Skill attacks could be ignored, and Divine Skill attacks could at least reduce a third of the damage.

But it seemed as if the Eighth Transition did not enhance strength; or was that the effect of the undying Taoist Body?

According to Chi Yu Zi, the effect of the undying Taoist Body was even more powerful, already possessing the heaven-defying ability equivalent to an Immortal Sword. Defense was no longer simply defense, it could transform all attacks into a mutual cancellation of mana.